Play The Sims 2: Real Life
by NontoxicEggs
Summary: When Mel carelessly installs an expansion pack given to her by a stranger... she finds out it could possibly have been something she either would regret or cherish forever...
1. Installation

I have recently become re-obsessed with The Sims 2. I wanted to do a story, but as I thought of that I was thinking how to expand my horizon. Then I thought of here, the recently abandoned fanfic site. D: Sorry fanfiction, I love you.

So I'm making this. Duh... I don't know what to say now. So I'll just get on with it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sims 2. I just own the characters I make. :3**

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**The following is, sadly, the true, nonfictional part of the story.**  
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Today was more boring than usual. I was now laying my head on my arm against the table, my hand still on the mouse and my eyes still on the screen. I glanced at the clock. 11 PM.

Okay, make that_ tonight _was more boring than usual.

I instinctively hit the 'P' button to make sure my Sims wouldn't set the house on fire as I thought. I got on the computer around the time I woke up today... around eight...

It's official. A new record. I had been playing The Sims 2 for fifteen hours straight. Various families of course, and I had made about five of them, quickly getting bored with each one. But I was attached to the newest one I made, it had a zombie, two witches, two cat demons (made using werewolf eyes and some CC), an alien, an ex-angel (he didn't look like an angel, more like a blind bisexual. xD), and an inverted tuxedo cat with black stars. Pretty messed up. I called them the Henteko family. Henteko was Japanese for strange, as far as I knew.

Anyway, I loved them.

I yawned as I clicked the exit button. It took me a minute to realize it had asked me if I wanted to save my game. Yup, I was tired. But I clicked 'Yes.'

That night I fell asleep with my light on, passed out in a weird position on my bed. My glasses were also carelessly left on my face and a little bent out of shape when I woke up between the mattress and wall.

I nearly burned my hand turning off the light, but when I checked the time it was 11 AM. I stared blankly at the clock. Was it lying to me? I always woke up before 10. I never wanted a night like_ that_ again.

This was all that game's fault.

* * *

Even so, I couldn't being myself to stop playing it, and I again had a night like_ that_. And again, and again, and again... until I had gone a week like _that_.

I declared myself a Sims addict as I once again closed the game and glanced at the clock. This time it was exactly 11:53 PM. Sunday. An official week, too.

I told myself to let someone else use the computer as I passed out that night.

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Thankfully, I did. Not technically, though. My first thought waking up was to play the Sims and make that blind bisexual get a job. When I left my room I saw my brother on the computer and silently thanked him for granting me my first day to not use the Sims right when I woke up.

When I was really awake and about I got a call from my friend Alli who seemed really excited. She didn't tell me why but she merely told me to meet her at the park. I asked my mom for a ride and even though it was short notice, she didn't care. She just said to me as I walked up to my friend, 'no sleepovers today.'

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The following is fictional. :3

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Alli told me that someone had told her that for celebrating the Sims 3 release, they were giving away a free, final Sims 2 expansion pack. Alli didn't have a computer functional enough to run The Sims 2 anyway so each time she came over my house we'd play it. She convinced me to get it even though my decision was final before. Having already collected each and every single one, I had to get the last one. I asked her when and where and such and she said over by the Shed. It wasn't really a shed... but more like a cute little memorial thing for something. I can't describe it. D:

Anyway some dude was there with a table and a few stacks of the same thing: a Sims-style case. The said case was white with a plain label: Sims 2: Real Life. What a lame name. Even so, I got one and Alli came home with me that day.

Get this... we convinced my mom to let her stay over until she was called to go home.

So we installed the expansion and nothing really special happened. Ignoring this, we played the game until about eight when Alli had to leave. Then I was once again up until eleven. But something seemed slightly more addicting. I wasn't tired, either. When I finally looked at the clock it was about midnight. I knew my parents usually woke up around two so I made a note of that and continued playing.

And I played, and played, and played... I came across this one point where I made my dream Sim and her family, I did this a lot. I make a Sim about what I want to be like instead of a SimSelf, and made her a family. Same old, same old...

I decided to make my dream Sim just a bit like me and made her sit down at the computer. I shuffled through the choices and made her do several until I got bored with making her send emails and IM people. I had recently had her family go shopping and bought all the games. I hadn't seen the screens for them yet to I clicked 'Play...' and saw 'The Sims 2: Real Life'

I got ripped off! That expansion pack was just a waste of space on my computer, and it was just an in-game expansion pack? I found that pretty cute that the game had a game within it but the 'expansion pack' had taken up the majority of the space left on my computer... all for a new video game screen!?

With a sigh I was about to click the option when I heard my dad say 'get to bed' like he knew I was up. ...Because I did this often. I saved my game and quickly went to bed. I told myself I'd resume in the morning.

* * *

I didn't even sleep that night. I was curious about a bunch of things. I 'got up' around five, the earliest I could get away with without being told to go back to bed, and went on the computer. But first things first of course, I went online for a bit and checked a few things... which strangely took a few hours. But when I finally signed off, my mom had gone to take my sister to summer school, I remembered my brother had gone to sleep over his friend's house and now my dad was at work. I could faintly remember my dad asking me if I would be okay alone... oh yeah. My mom had to go to work at 3am but since my sister was doing summer school she'd have to pull off until nine and go in late, then she'd go to work. So I had the house to myself until about four in the afternoon.

So I simmed. When I started the game I went to my dreamsim's household and clicked the option...

_Play... The Sims 2: Real Life._


	2. From the eyes of the Sim

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sims 2. I wish I did, though. D:**

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**My life started like any other Sim's life. I was created as a teenager with short, dark brunette hair and regular silver eyes. My hair wasn't normal though. My mom had pointed that out after we took our family picture. But she said it was 'special' in a way... apparently no other Sims had it. I didn't want to be different. I wanted to be normal.

As we got out of the taxi-- we had just gone shopping-- I stared at the empty lot in front of us. All that was there was a single wall with a phone on it, we had used it to get a taxi to the store. I thought by now our house would be build. Out of instinct I started petting our cat, Guree... that's pronounced 'goo-ray' kind of like 'gray' but God told me it was Japanese. I don't speak Japanese.

And we waited as God built our house... of course we never knew what we got until... it finished. Weird thing is, the house would pop out of nowhere. It's pretty creepy... but apparently we're supposed to be used to it. We entered the house and looked around. When we figured out where all the rooms were and what all the furniture was, I went to my room and relaxed on my bed. I stared at the ceiling with my hands folded over my stomach. Something wasn't right... the atmosphere was... new. This only happened once in a while. Maybe my hair was part of this new atmosphere?

I got up and sat down at the computer, and emailed my friend. I asked her if anything seemed different to her. Turns out she was online anyway and we started talking about it. She told me nothing seemed different besides the new things to do, the new types of people, the new furniture, the new walls and floors... She told me her room had a ceiling now. I congratulated her, then I looked up at my own ceiling. We said goodbye and I just sat there for awhile until I played one of the new games. My mind didn't tell me to do that, though. Some force did, like a few of my other choices were...

And the game that force selected was _The Sims 2: Real Life_.


	3. More than enough confusion

**Disclaimer: If I owned the Sims 2, I wouldn't need a disclaimer. I'd probably need a 'claimer.'  
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**The screen went black. "Not again!" I yelled. This had happened before, but it killed my other computer. So now I sat there, staring at the blank screen, biting my finger, tears in my eyes. I was yelled at all through the night when this happened, and now it was about to happen again? Then I realized the computer fan was still running. I glanced at the monitor button, it was still on. I tapped it-- it was a super sensitive button. (Not even a button, actually. Just a touch pad thing?)-- then tapped it again. I turned it on then off. Nothing happened. I waited. What was I gonna tell my parents this time..!?

Then the screen came back on. My sim had fallen over in her chair, and on the monitor screen there was a swirling, bluish purplish thing. My sim began reaching for it and I tried canceling the action, but it was like trying to cancel a pet's action and it didn't work. I hit P but it didn't pause. I pressed the super fast forward button but the speed remained the same. I glanced at the menu-- all the buttons were disabled. Not just the buy and build mode, all of them. Even Live Mode. Was this not live? Then the menu disappeared and the camera zoomed in on the screen. The Sim's arm was now being pulled through the monitor. I stared. I couldn't do anything else. She was sucked in, then my screen turned off again. I fell backwards in my chair. "What the hell just happened!?" I asked myself, over and over. I was so lucky that no one was home. Then again, I wasn't. If I tried to fix the computer, what if I broke it? What if my dad came home and yelled at me again!? And then the same spiral appeared on my screen, but I was able to avoid being pulled toward it. I stared. This was getting boring. Then an arm came out of the spiral. "What the--!?" I stood up to see if it was real. It was. It was coming right out of my monitor. I reached for the 'button' that turned off the monitor, and the arm grabbed mine. I tried to pull out of it, thinking it was gonna suck me in. But it didn't. "Help!" I heard a voice say. It sounded like a teenage sim girl. I grabbed the arm with both hands and yanked, and like nothing... something came out of my monitor. We fell violently on the floor and I nearly hurt myself on the tipped over chair.

I sat up and rubbed my head, then grabbed my glasses off the floor. I looked at the floor next to me, and there...

What the heck?

There was my sim. But she looked... real-er. It was hard to picture my sim as a human. But I could tell it was her. Her hair was almost the same custom content I used to make her. Her clothes were the same.

"Ow..." she muttered. She opened her eyes then stared at the ceiling. "Where am I?" she looked at me. There was a long, awkward silence as we tried to comprehend what happened.

"...Where am I?" she repeated after awhile. I shook my head. "Oh... um... well, the real world."

"Wasn't I just... in the real world?"

"...No, that was my computer... a game, actually... this is Earth."

"Earth?" she sat up. "You mean... with humans?"

"Yeah."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she said, bowing her head. "You're a girl... so you're... Goddess, then..?"

"...Goddess?"

"You control my life... right?"

"Not anymore, apparently."

"You used to... when I was in the... game, right? I'm just part of a game?" she looked at me again. She looked pretty disappointed.

"Not anymore, apparently."

"I was?"

"...Yeah... does it bother you?"

"A little..."

"Don't worry." I said, standing up. I set the chair back on all fours. "I don't know what happened, but we should probably try to get you back to where you belong, right?" I looked at the monitor. It was back at the game. The Sim's computer was turned off and broken, and her mother was crying, her cat was yowling. The reaper was there, talking on his cell phone. "What the..." I knew this. Had she died? What was going on?

She got up as well and stared at the screen. "Mom! Don't cry! What's wro--" then she noticed the reaper. "I've heard of him... doesn't he..!? Am I..."

"Quick! Let's try to get you back inside!"

She placed her hand on the monitor. It turned off, and the computer shut down. She stared at me. "Oh no.. I'm sorry..."

"No, I'm sorry." I said. "I'm so confused. How are we gonna even try to get you back now? Hopefully my computer isn't broken..." I pressed the power button. It flicked back on. I smiled. "Wait! I think we still have time. Maybe... one second..." I started the game, but it just asked me if I wanted to install the Real Life expansion pack. I frowned and clicked cancel. Then I looked around my folders... The Sims 2 was gone. She looked at me. "So... what's..."

"The game you came from, it's gone. I can reinstall it, but..." I opened the CD drive. The disk for the ripoff expansion pack that was previously white was now black. I took it out and stared at it. Then it faded. I shook my head. "I don't think we're gonna be able to get you back..." I looked at my desktop sadly. Then I noticed the calendar. An orange box was highlighted around the 23rd, which was a Tuesday. _'Oh right! Summer vacation-- ends tomorrow! Shoot...'_ I looked at my sim. _'Oh no, what am I gonna do..!?'_ "Look..." I said, and pointed at the calendar. "I have to go to school tomorrow. Summer vacation is over. I'll reinstall the game later and we'll see what we can try to get you back to your world. But for now you're stuck with me. Pretty soon my brother's gonna wake up and I have to get off..." I heard his door open and I panicked. "Come with me!" I quickly logged off and grabbed her arm, running over to the stairs. We ducked below the floor and waited for him to pass, then we get up and I took her to my room.

"What's with all these blankets?" she asked me, staring at the floor. "And what's that on the window?"

"My room is a mess and those are shades. You just have curtains in your world as far as I know.. don't ask questions please, I'm not in the mood..."

"But... it's so weird..." she looked around worriedly. "Whoa! How'd you get your radio purple!?"

"Ssssh! My brother will hear you and my parents are asleep. Don't wake them up!"

"And how'd you get the desk like that?!" she asked, ignoring me. I sighed. "Fine. I'll answer anything you want, as long as you're quiet. The radio is purple because there's more than a few types of radios in our world. The desk is like that for the same reason. Make note of this before asking anything else..."

She looked around. "I have so many questions..." she pointed to a corner of my room. "Why is that design different from the rest of your wall?"

"Augh, not the rainbow!!" I whispered loudly. "My dad put that there for my sister and I when we were little. We haven't changed the interior since."

"It's nice. Different." she said, staring at it. Then she looked up. "Why is there a fuzzy thing hanging from the ceiling?"

"I torture stuffed animals because it's illegal to torture people."

"..."

"...Yup."

"Why doesn't your closet have doors?"

"Please refer to what I said before..."

"I guess that basically answers everything." she said, frowning. "Your world has so many more things."

"Yeah..."

She placed a hand on her stomach. "...Hey, you still have food here, right?"

"...Oh great..."

Almost my entire family was now up and about.


	4. Operation: Introduce Sim into my life

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Sims 2. ...I remember when I first saw the word 'disclaimer' I thought it had something to do with music. I knew what 'claim' meant and even the negative suffixes and all but disclaimer just sounded so musical.**

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"Wait here." I said. I slipped on a hoodie and headed for the door.

"Where are you..." I glanced at her. She didn't seem to fond of being alone in a weirdo world. "I'll be right back." I assured her, and left.

"Good morning." my dad said when I got to the kitchen. "Morning." I answered, trying to sound tired. It took me a minute to realize it was Tuesday, and that my dad had said good morning to me. "Taking the day off?" I tried to make conversation so he wouldn't notice the Rice Krispies treats I was stuffing in my sweater pocket. Bad luck. He got up and walked into the kitchen for another cup of coffee. He looked at me. By now I had closed the cupboard and my hands were in my pockets, trying to keep a natural shape to hide the rectangular treats. "Isn't it a little hot for a sweater?"

"I'm cold." I answered immediately.

"Cold? The fan isn't even on."

"Maybe I can feel the future."

"Feel the future? How is global warming?"

"Warm."

(( That "I'm cold" part... really happened. xD ))

He nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee. I sighed in relief. Got away with it. I rushed back to my room and took off the hoodie, and handed her the treats. "Not much but I can't really get away with anything else. I don't know how I'm gonna put up with you." I opened one of my windows and stood in front of it, glad to let the breeze cool my skin from the sweatshirt. That was something you should wear if you're dead-cold in the snow. It was about 80*F outside, and God knows my house was hotter inside than out when no fans or air conditioners were on.

My dream sim stared at the things I had put in her hand. She looked confused. "What are these?"

"They're Rice Krispies treats."

"Rice... Krispies?" she picked one of the two up with her thumb and index finger. "It doesn't look like much."

"Like I said, I can't really get away with anything else."

"Why is it... blue? And it has words on it, are those safe to eat?"

"Oh." Right. I forgot. Her world was more simple. "Here," I said, taking one. I ripped open the package and handed her the marshmallowy snack. "You don't eat the wrapper."

She took the treat cautiously. "...Anything else that needs unwrapping?"

"Nope, that's it."

She took a bite. At first she chewed slowly, then she smiled and swallowed it. "That's amazing! It's got this... taste... I can't really describe..."

"Sssh." I said, laughing quietly. "It's marshmallows and rice. New to you, huh?" she nodded, and took another bite. "I don't even need a spoon or fork to eat it-- it's like fancy food! Almost like toaster pastries! Only these..."

While her world was simple, there were some things on Earth that were apparently even more simple.

"We have toaster pastries in our world too." I said, smiling as I remembered that her world's foods were basically simulated versions of ours. "And macaroni and cheese and spaghetti... but you'll have to put up with smaller things like that until I figure out what to do with you." I sat down on the bed next to her. "School starts tomorrow. Maybe I can pretend you're a new friend... but that won't be easy. My parents know I don't make friends in a day... so it'll be a few days until you can eat things like that. Of course, I've taken snacks to my room before so I could probably get away with feeding you right..."

"You sound like my owner or something." she said as she attempted unwrapping the second one. "Feeding me right. So I guess I'm your pet?"

"Don't say it like that." I said, tearing the package for her. "But the problem is, how am I gonna get you to school? If you're a new friend maybe you can 'come to my house' a few days after school starts... but how..."

"Don't worry. I can live off of small things like this."

"You shouldn't have to for long. At least until I figure out... how to introduce you into my life. It won't be easy..."


	5. First Day

I know I haven't updated this in a long time. I started this in June-July so I didn't have school then... I got tied up in a lot of other summer things and now that I'm back in school I have more time after homework and whatnot. Truthfully I forgot about this, and just remembered because I got Open for Business for Christmas. ._.;; I'm going to try again.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Sims 2. I do however, own several businesses on there now. :3**

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The next day was the first day of school I was really nervous, and I could hardly think of a plan to get my Sim casually into my life.

"There's a bus stop down the hill by mine. I'll walk to the stop today, but I want you to wait outside for me when I leave before my mom does. I want you to wait by that bus stop, and I'll keep going to mine. Then when you get on the bus, act like you don't know me and you just want a new friend, so you sit next to me. We'll talk and everything, but I'm not going to plan those out to make it seem casual. Just one thing: you _don't_ know me."

She seemed confused at first, but slowly understood as I explained. "Okay so how will I get outside without--"

"This window. I'll get out first to make sure you get out okay." I pointed to myself with my thumb and grinned. "I'm a professional at getting out discreetly."

"Oh, okay... I'm nervous."

"I am too. Until we can get you back in the game, we'll have to deal with it. It'll only be hard at first..."

"I mean, I've never climbed out a window before."

"Oh yeah. ...Then, watch what I do." I went over to the window and slid it open, and climbed up on a chair. I slid my leg out first, then the other, then let myself fall onto the table outside. I waved to her, gesturing her to do the same.

She walked over to the window and stared at me like I was crazy.

"Now you do it."

"Um..." I saw her get up on the chair, and that's all I saw before she fell out the window and hit the table right on her bottom. I couldn't help laughing, but I was also thankful that because I was on the table, it only wobbled slightly rather than falling over. "Nice." she said, getting off and dusting herself off. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah." I hopped off and grabbed our backpacks off the ground that I had left there the night before. "Let's not mess this up."

* * *

I was really afraid of leaving her there by herself, at the first stop. Sims had a tendency to do whatever they wanted, so I reminded her that it was really important that she stayed. I handed her her backpack and continued on up the hill. I listened to music as I waited, and a few minutes later my mom's car drove up, just in time for the bus. I got on with my brother, and two other kids that waited there. I stared cautiously out the window and longed for time to just speed up to the next stop, like it did in The Sims. Luckily it was just down the street, and the Sim girl was there just like I told her. Thankfully she grabbed her backpack and stepped on the bus casually, but she stopped halfway down the aisle. In a split second, I had remembered that Sims disappeared when they got on the bus. I quickly gestured for her to sit with me, and it was almost like it never happened.

"Phew." I sighed when she had sat down and put her hands in her lap, like they usually did. "Hi stranger!" she said, smiling. At least she got the part about not knowing me. "What's your name?"

"Melissa, but you can call me Mel."

"Oh cool, that's--"

"Your name is Lacey." I whispered.

"--a cool name. Mine is Lacey." she said, smiling. "It'd be too ironic if we had the same name and looked somewhat alike." I said quietly, and she nodded.

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She managed to keep it cool on the bus, but she almost forgot her backpack on the way out. Everyone figured we were friends now, and that was a good start. The only thing was, I had forgotten that there was no proof that she was enrolled here. I couldn't think of anything. I'd have to play it cool as I went.

As I entered homeroom, the Sim girl, now names Lacey, followed and proceeded to take the seat next to me. Alli was right in front of me, next to a new kid. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me. I could read her, that's what her and I did. I could tell that she basically said, "they belong to us now."

So Lacey was my pet and David was Alli's. Eventually, I knew I'd have to tell Alli the truth about Lacey, because she'd know eventually if I was lying to her.

Lots of kids came up to us and pointed out that we looked a lot alike. I merely shrugged and Lacey did the same.

At attendance, the teacher didn't call her name. I raised my hand. "You forgot Lacey."

"All the new kids don't have their name in yet." he pointed out, and I slumped down in my chair. Half in relief, half in panic. Her enrollment wasn't confirmed yet, so I had time to think of something because all the new kids weren't. I panicked because I still hadn't thought of something. If worse came to worse I had a plan to hack the school computers.

So for the first day, I had bought some time. Everyone believed she was a part of the school, even the teachers. Only problem was the staff. They'd find out eventually, so I had to think of something.

And the problem in that problem was: what?


	6. Hacked and Trapped

**I must say, it's the reviews that keep me updating! Thanks guys! :3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sims 2. But I own three skyrocketing businesses and five run by hobos**

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**Worse has come to worse. The new kids would be registered soon and I would have to hack the computers to get them in on time. So last night, I snuck into the school with 'Lacey'. The doors were unlocked because at this hour, the janitors were tidying up the school. Only problem was to make sure we wouldn't be caught. And with all the cameras, I had to think ahead.

"I'm going to have to feed the cameras a loop." I said to Lacey as we hid outside, away from the view of the cameras. "I've already got into the files on my laptop, so now all we have to do is..." Lacey watched me as I edited the video files to play on a loop during the time we were there. I'd have to set it back after we left, so that no one gets suspicious.

"We're safe. Now we just have to make sure we don't get caught by the janitors." I closed my laptop and slid it into it's case, and looked around the corner at the school.

"You're good at that, whatever that is. Hacking. Cause now we won't get caught, right?"

"Right. Come on." I grabbed her hand and ran into the building. Into the office, and into the principal's room. The janitors never came in here, at least I hoped. I shut off the lights to make the janitors think they had already closed up here. They'd only have to come and clean the carpets now and then, and they looked clean enough. I sat down at his desk, feeling superior for a moment before spinning around in the chair to face the computer monitor. I frowned at the lack of challenge. He had stayed logged in. "This is a lot easier than I hoped it'd be." I said with a sigh, and looked through his files to the student records. Under my homeroom I added 'Lacey Vandever'. I had to make up her last name too, but it was worth it.

"That's it?" Lacey asked, staring at the screen.

"That's it." I said, folding my arms and grinning triumphantly. "...We have some time to kill... what do you want to do?"

"We can't leave now? I feel sick staying here... this isn't right."

"Maybe it's not." I said, closing all the windows I opened. "Then come on, let's get out of here. Suddenly the lights turned off in the main office, then in the lobby, and we were standing in pitch dark except for the light illuminated by the computer screen.

"Ohh... crud... don't tell me!" I got up and ran to the door, pushing down on the handle. It was locked, but thankfully the door had been left open ajar just barely. We stepped out and I shut the door behind us. Every door was closed. Even the one leading to the lobby. That door had been open all the time I've seen it, I had almost forgotten there was a door there at all. But now it was closed. I desperately tried to open that one as well.

Locked.

We were locked in the office.

"...Mel... what's going on...?"

"The janitors are gone, at least." I said, forcing myself to smile even though it was hard to see it in the darkness. "So it's not like we can get caught."


	7. Caught?

**This is the first chapter I wrote ahead of time rather than right as I sat at the computer. In fact, I had this one planned ahead right after I submitted the last one. BE PROUD OF ME!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own The Sims 2. And also, it doesn't even work anymore. :3**

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"We're trapped!" Lacey shouted, looking around frantically. "I've heard of this happening to others but never have I been punished so! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"

So she's heard of the human zoo.

"Snap out of it!" I yelled back. "There's no way it'll last that long! We'll get out of here! I can guarantee it!" I pointed to the door. "Even if we don't, those doors will unlock in nine hours. We're not going to die!"

"O-Okay..." she said, shivering. "But how do we get out?"

"There should be keys somewhere in the principal's desk." I said, walking towards the office. "But didn't you-"

Locked.

"...close... that door..."

"Yeah." I sighed. I knew it wouldn't be that easy. "But shouldn't there be spare keys somewhere?" I looked around, wondering where, if they existed, they were.

"What if there aren't?"

"Don't be a downer." I walked behind the from desk and began searching the drawers. I could tell Lacey was still nervous. "But-"

"NO MORE BUTS, JUST SHUT UP!!"

"You said 'butts'." she said softly, giggling.

"Got 'em." I said, feeling accomplished as I pulled them out of the drawer. "Wow. That's a lot of keys." I hopped over the desk and tried each key in the door. When it finally opened, we were ecstatic to get out into the lobby. "The front door opens with a button near the computer." I said, gesturing toward the doors. "I'll press it, but hold the door for me." I ran back into the office and waited for her hand to touch the handle, then I pressed the button. She held it open and I shut the office door, then we both excitedly ran out.

"Security in this place is horrible." I commented as we hoped on our bikes and began pedaling off.

But I couldn't help feeling like we forgot something.

* * *

The next day, I was relieved to hear Lacey's name called during role call. No one seemed suspicious, either.

Until the morning announcements.

"There has been a breach in security on the school's computers. All classrooms are to go into hard lockdown mode."

I was instantly panicky, but we followed the class to the corner of the room. "This is a little intense for hacking, don't you think?" I heard kids whispering. So did the teacher. "No talking." he said in a loud whisper. I looked to Lacey, who looked as though she'd break down and cry any minute.

I knew I forgot something. The camera loop.

A few minutes later an announcement came on again.

"We suspect that someone broke into the schools, but it seems as if all they did was change the camera monitors. Security is back up again. Please resume regular classroom activities."

A click, and my confidence was gone like that.

Alli walked over to me as we were dismissed from homeroom. "What do you think that was about?" I hid my nervousness with a smile. "No idea. But it was kinda cool."

"A bit much for a little hack." she said, rolling her eyes. I simply nodded. She turned her attention to Lacey. "Hey Lacey."

Lacey shyly waved. Alli grinned. "Don't be shy. I don't bite."

"Yes she does." I said quickly.

"Oh, what of it. Don't worry, Lacey..."

But both of us knew, we were both worrying.


End file.
